Tech Partner Sought for UK Football’s Premier League

In soccer, the UK’s Premier League has announced that it is to appoint its first official technology partner.

In the first change to the Premier League‘s sponsorship categories since Budweiser was confirmed as official beer in 2002, the BBCreports that the new technology category is set to boost the league’s international profile. It is believed that a global brand is favoured to take on the role and to feature on TV broadcasts as well as on the main website.

The Premier League points to increasing demand for in-depth information about matches and teams as games are now broadcast in over 200 countries. With this new deal, fans may even be able to monitor the performance of individual players, throughout the season and even during games.

It has not been announced how much it will cost to secure the alliance or when further details will be announced. However, it seems likely that potential partners will need to demonstrate in their bids just how their approach to the technology deployed by the Premier League can be used to attract, engage and retain a global audience across multiple channels, devices and social networks.

Existing Premier League sponsors include Nike, EA Sports and Wrigleys Extra with Barclays picking up the main title sponsorship, recently extended in a three-year deal worth £82.25m.

A leading innovator in the IT Outsourcing industry, Tim is often on the move but can be regularly found in Manchester and London, UK. His focus is on social and mobile technologies but given half a chance he'll try to sneak music or football into his blog-posts. Tim can be found at One Greener Day and you can also follow @timdifford on Twitter.